I’ve learned a lot from this class and we studied quite a few things that I never thought I would be studying as an English Major. One of my favorite ideas was sponsorship. Learning about this made me rethink all of my literacy practices and compare them to people around me. Why are my practices so much different from my brother’s? This was something I explored a bit at the beginning of the semester and I realized the difference was mostly caused by the differences in our sponsors.

While the idea of sponsorship was interesting, the book club was much more fun and was my favorite part of the semester. I read Just Girls and it had a huge impact on how I view literacy. Things that often get dismissed such as note writing, reading magazines, and yearbook rituals are so important to the group of middle school girls. We can’t just dismiss their practices because we don’t like them. This got me thinking about the literacy practices of middle school boys as well. What about the video games they play (which we learned more about later in the semester). It really made me examine how I view certain practices that I used to think were unimportant or bad. As a future teacher exploring these different practices and how important they are has been really helpful. It’s important for me to not dismiss things just because I don’t understand the appeal of them. Instead I should try to understand why they are important, and how are the students using them.

I had a ton of fun working in a classroom. The teacher I worked with, Mr Asnault was awesome! I spent the first half of the semester grading and creating vocab quizzes but eventually I started working with the students more and more. I was nervous about this at first, but it ended being really fun and I think I was able to help the students with their writing. I really liked how much collaboration was going on with the teachers at Chico High. M. Asnault also asked me for my feedback a few times. He asked me what I would do in certain situations. Those discussions were really useful for me.

I learned a lot doing these articles groups. My favorite topic that I spent a lot of time researching was ARGs. I found an article called “ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES FOR DEVELOPING STUDENT AUTONOMY AND PEER LEARNING” by
Nicola Whitton. It included a case study about a project that developed an ARG for students at Manchester Metropolitan University. It talks about how some computer games that act as constructivist learning environments, allow students to create their own understanding of the world. Whitton says that students “have the facility to create a context for problem-solving experiences, allowing groups of students to work together to tackle real-life, multi-disciplinary problems. ” These games also allow students to work collaboratively to solve problems. I think a lot of people are too quick to label video games anti social, but in my experience, they require quite a  bit of social interaction and problem solving skills. In MMOs for example, a lot of time is spent in groups. These groups may be made up of people you know, or they may be total strangers you haven’t met, but either way you have to work together to figure out how to achieve whatever your goal is, whether it’s a quest to gather items, or killing a boss. Even if you play a video game alone, you may come to point where you get stuck. Often times players will search for answers or tips on online forums or videos that other have posted. Or they may ask their friends how they navigated the obstacle they are stuck on. Either way, most players rely on social resources when gaming.

http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/page-two/cfp-pedagogical-alterity-stories-race-gender-disability-sexuality/

This was such an interesting article. The article talks about identity in the learning space. There was a great quote in here- “This CFP intends to allow our readers and writers to narrate their experiences — not only of oppression, but of difference. The goal is to make space for a broader perspective, to bring otherwise marginalized voices (or bits of voices no matter how small) to the fore. We’re seeking reflections upon the lived (and often distinctly physical) experiences we have in classrooms and a consideration of how we build a pedagogy from those experiences.” We have talked about the idea of difference in class before. All of our students will come from different backgrounds and each will have their own experiences that different from each others and our own. The article pointed out how their editorial bard is made of 3 gay men, 2 women, and 2 straight men, all of them white and educated. While they are similar in 2 ways, their differences are a part of their identity and likely changed their experiences even within school.

While there were a few things that Rafe did that I disagreed with, overall I really enjoyed the way he ran his class. One thing that stood out to me was something Ian McKellen said and that is that these kids aren’t just saying the words, they are really understanding them. And we can see this so clearly when the children are crying while reading and when we watch the little girl playing Ophelia. This children aren’t just acting how their teacher told them they should, they are reading and connecting to their reading. I also enjoyed listening to the parents talk about how much their children have changed. Many of the children have become more engaged and active in learning. Many of these children are willing to stay after school to work on their play, or practice for tests. They spend so much time learning, but to them it’s fun and it’s something they want to. This has made a huge impact on these children. When I was younger, it was so hard for me to be engaged in what I was learning. Watching this, Rafe puts in a lot of time and effort. He does so much beyond what most teachers do and I think his enthusiasm and love for what he does affects his students.

One thing that I found particularly interesting in this book was the title. All the girls in the book, both the social queens and tough cookies considered themselves “just girls.” However the two groups of girls were quite different and had very different literacy practices. But what they have in common is the thought that they are average girls. The both use their literacy practices to prove this. These practices such as writing notes or poetry are important to these girls. Our group also talked about the different ways that the parents viewed these practices as well. While the the mother of one of social queens wishes her daughter would read books rather than “fluff”, she admits that she is glad her daughter is reading. To her daughter this reading important. These magazines provide information that the social queens feel they need. I found this to be my favorite part of the book. Most of the social queens did read books as well, however it was the magazines that they bonded over and they hid the books they were reading from each other. Mot of these girls were involved in many different literacy practices. Some of them however, were used to establish social status and these literacy practices were extremely important to these girls.